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PRESS RELEASE: Host University Venue Changes for January, March 2012 meetings of the Board of Governors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 25, 2011

TWO BOARD OF GOVERNORS MEETING SITES CHANGED

Host university venues changed for January, March meetings of Board of Governors,
to align with early start of Legislature’s 2012 Regular Session

The venues for the January and March meetings of the Board of Governors have changed as a result of the Board of Governors’ attempt to ensure it meets in Tallahassee during the 60-day Regular Session of the Legislature, which will meet early this year due to redistricting.

Florida A&M University in Tallahassee now will host the January 18-19 meeting, switching with the University of North Florida, which will host the March 21-22 meeting in Jacksonville.

The full schedule remains on the web site www.flbog.edu and has been updated accordingly. It is located under “The Board,” then Meeting Dates. Links also are maintained and updated for the 11 Boards of Trustees and their respective meetings at the university level.

In the fall of 2010, Board Chair Ava L. Parker released the meeting schedule for 2011 and 2012, returning to an approach of rotating the meetings across the state among the 11 public universities to ensure stakeholders had another means of access to the group 17 members, which has the constitutional responsibility to govern and coordinate the State University System.

"It is a priority of the Board of Governors to always remain accessible to the students, administration, faculty, researchers and community leaders in the System it governs – and it is similarly important to the 11 public universities in the System to have opportunities to showcase their facilities and successes," said spokesperson Kelly Layman. “The eight standing committees of the Board of Governors meet in the same setting for each two-day meeting of the Board in order to help facilitate and strengthen that access as well. Communities in Florida are extremely receptive to seeing the Board of Governors travel amid the universities again as a group. The Board of Governors is a group of engaged, informed public servants interested in continuing this commitment forward through 2012.”

There are many additional options for the public to access and view meetings of the Board of Governors on a regular basis:
• Every Board meeting is taped and aired statewide several times on public broadcasting affiliates that carry programming from The Florida Channel. For more information, see http://www.wfsu.org/tfc/.
• Each Board meeting streams live video and audio on the Board of Governors' web site, www.flbog.edu, during the two days of proceedings.
• Each Board meeting has a live, toll-free phone line for audio access. The call-in info is listed each time on the home page of the web site.
• Each Board meeting is archived less than 48 hours after the two days of proceedings on the Board of Governors’ web site as well.

About the State University System of Florida
The State University System is comprised of 11 institutions with a total enrollment of more than 320,000 students, making it the fourth-largest public university system in the nation in terms of enrollment (some states have more than one university system). The Florida Constitution (Article IX, Section 7) was amended by the State’s voters in 2002 to establish a statewide system of governance for all Florida public universities. As a result, the Florida Board of Governors was created to oversee the State University System of Florida. Responsibilities include defining the distinctive mission of each institution and ensuring the well-planned coordination and operation of the System. The Board is comprised of 17 appointed members – 14 are appointed by the Governor and three are members by virtue of their designations (a faculty member, a Florida Student Association student representative, and the Commissioner of Education). The Board of Governors appoints a Chancellor who serves as the chief executive and administrative officer of the State University System. For more, including the Board’s 2010 Annual Report that reflects accountability measurements and benchmarks occurring at each institution, see www.flbog.edu.